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Topic: Ziebart... How to remove it? (Read 5461 times)

I'm from the south, and don't very often see a Zeibarted cars, but last week I traveled to a state a bit north of here to evaluate/assess an LS-6 '71 Corvette. Turned out to be a real LS6 car, one owner, PTP, lalways-garaged, 32K miles.. but with a few minor mods, needing a good cleaning, but the worst thing (IMO) was the Ziebarted underside. This was a solid car that had it applied after 10 years or so (1980?), but the metal was very good... just this black crap all over everything...

I've never tried to remove anything like this, but is it feasible to do? How much do you think this affects value of such a car?

Why remove it? It would take a lot of time & effort to remove and personally I don't think it affect the value very much.However, it can be removed with mineral spirits; just spray or brush it on and let it soak in to soften the coating, then scrape and re-apply as needed.

Why remove it? It would take a lot of time & effort to remove and personally I don't think it affect the value very much.However, it can be removed with mineral spirits; just spray or brush it on and let it soak in to soften the coating, then scrape and re-apply as needed.

I've removed old undercoating using that technique... so this is similar...?

Yep, I know how much difficult it is... and this car is still 'whole and assembled' which makes it even worse.

This car doesn't belong to me, but it's potentially a very valuable car (only 188 LS-6 Corvettes built). A '71 LS-6 is a 454 engine with aluminum heads, aluminum (low rise) intake, and big Holley carb (rated 425 hp in '71). This is as close to an L88 Corvette you could buy post-1969 model year. I think for the owner to maximize the value (should he ever sell it), he needs to get it judged at Bloomington, or at a major NCRS show.. (the mods are wheels, valve covers, front spoiler).. mostly minor items. The big items are all there.. The car needs a good careful cleaning, and then there's that Ziebart..

PITA , did mine just because I want that detailed look ,something different for my own gratification.1. Used water based stripper, 15 min set time than scraped- 2 cycles. 2. Wiped down sections with Lacquer thinner/ 3m pad. With respirator ,eye protection and proper protective clothing . Did this on the lift with all the shop doors open ,good ventilation and no ignition sources. Great results. Will say the 40+ year old coating did it's job and the panels looked great underneath. The stripper was not real aggressive and allowed me to go through layers of finish. I shot pics underneath showing body color overspray and primer colors under the car. And yes the rear wheel wells are getting re-coated. Surprisingly did find some light rust there under a layer of goo and several layers of black paint. Not to mention melted slick. I've heard some guys having great luck with a power scraper, maybe the undercoat turned brittle ? No such luck for me. Oh, nice spread Gary , Hugger Orange Z really adds to the décor I had a buddy down in South Carolina ( when I was in the Air Force ) whose parents had a drive in basement. His dad kept his streetbikes down there ---thought that was the coolest.

If that '71 LS6 were my car, I'd never have had it done, and if I bought it later, I'd be spending my spare time cleaning it off.

I was trying to determine if I should recommend to the owner that he get it cleaned off (I doubt he's the sort of person to do it himself). I think it's a detriment to any future sale, and to having the car judged at a high level. Otherwise, beyond the Ziebart and the minor mods, the car is very well preserved, but not *clean*.. cleaning most of it is not difficult, but the Ziebart is another matter. The interior (if it were detailed) is probably a 2+, and the original paint could be a 1 or 1- with some detailing.

Ziebart was (is) a wax based protectant that was typically sprayed into the interior areas of panels that didn't get undercoating from the factory. The black rubberized crap is uaually home applied, there weren't many places that did it as a business back in the day, either way its a painfully slow process to get it off, somepeople use heat guns and paint scrapers, and then go at it with laquer thinner or acetone on a rag. Needless to say you need some good ventilation if your going to try those methods to try and remove it.

Adding to my post: once the heavy stuff is off it will still look sort of nasty--just leave it alone a few days. The chemicals will still be working breaking down the residual. At this point a rag with a little mineral spirits will wipe it clean. Had quite a few hours under the car, worked well for me.

The frame is metal as is the suspension pieces, .. everything underneath got a heavy dose.. including the differential and transmission, etc... I'd never undercoat a car after it was driven, and they did this when it was 10 yrs old... and the metal appears to have been in great condition at the time.

My experience with undercoating (Dealer installed) was 2 fold. Areas where the coating was subjected to prolonged exposer to leaking powertrain fluids became a oozing goo, softened by the oil & trans fluids. This stuff required lots of solvent based removal efforts. Other (The majority) areas were hard as a rock and mechanical removal via scrapers of various types was the preferred method. I purchased lots of varying types of scrapers from swap meets and the coating would chips off and go flying of revealing PRISTINE sheet metal. The benefit was I could see the factory primers and topcoat overspray patterns which I tried to duplicate (Mostly).